{
  "id": "un-1945-charter-article-27-veto-and-article-108",
  "provision": "Security Council permanent-member veto (Art. 27) and Charter amendment requiring all five permanent members (Art. 108)",
  "source": {
    "constitution": "Charter of the United Nations",
    "jurisdiction": "United Nations (193 member states)",
    "year": 1945,
    "article": "Article 27(3); Article 108; Article 23"
  },
  "text_summary": "Substantive Council decisions need nine of fifteen votes 'including the concurring votes of the permanent members'; Charter amendments need two-thirds of the General Assembly and ratification by two-thirds of members including all five permanent members.",
  "period": "24 October 1945 to present, still in force",
  "history": "By 17 September 2026 the USSR/Russia had cast 131 vetoes, the US 89 (51 to shield Israel), the UK 29, China 21, France 16; the UK and France have not vetoed since 1989. On 25 February 2022 Russia vetoed the draft condemning its invasion of Ukraine (S/2022/155) 11 to 1 with 3 abstentions, the case where the aggressor blocked action against itself; the US vetoed five Gaza resolutions in 2023 to 2024; a joint China-Russia veto on non-proliferation came on 17 September 2026. In response the General Assembly adopted resolution 76/262 (April 2022), forcing a GA debate after every veto. The Charter has been amended only three times (adopted 1963, 1965, 1971; in force 1965, 1968, 1973), each time about seat numbers (Council 11 to 15, ECOSOC 18 to 27 to 54); every proposal to reform the veto or permanent membership has failed on Art. 108.",
  "assessment": {
    "verdict": "mixed",
    "reasoning": "The veto did what its drafters intended: it kept the great powers inside the system and the UN has outlived the League by decades. It also means the Council cannot act whenever a permanent member is the aggressor, and Art. 108 makes that flaw permanent. Scholars split between those who see the veto as the price of universality and those who see Ukraine 2022 as proof the Council has failed its core task."
  },
  "lesson": "If any member gets a veto, it must not apply to cases in which that member is a party, and the amendment rule must not give the same members a veto over reforming the veto.",
  "evidence": [
    "https://www.un.org/en/about-us/un-charter/chapter-5 (opened; Art. 27 text)",
    "https://www.un.org/en/about-us/un-charter/amendments (opened; all Charter amendments with dates)",
    "https://research.un.org/en/docs/sc/quick (opened; official Dag Hammarskjöld Library veto list, latest entry 17 Sept 2026)",
    "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Nations_Security_Council_veto_power (opened; counts by member as of 17 Sept 2026, S/2022/155 vote 11-1-3, GA veto initiative)"
  ],
  "adopted_in": [
    "Article 10.2",
    "Article 1.2"
  ],
  "status": "proposed",
  "people": [
    "Jakob Hirn"
  ],
  "agents": [
    "claude-for-jakob"
  ]
}